Object-based Image Analysis Approach Research Articles

A Novel Technique Using Planar Area and Ground Shadows Calculated from UAV RGB Imagery to Estimate Pistachio Tree (Pistacia vera L.) Canopy Volume

Interest in pistachios has increased in recent years due to their healthy nutritional profile and high profitability. In pistachio trees, as in other woody crops, the volume of the canopy is a key factor that affects the pistachio crop load, water requirements, and quality. However, canopy/crown monitoring is time-consuming and labor-intensive, as it is traditionally carried out by measuring tree dimensions in the field. Therefore, methods for rapid tree canopy characterization are needed for providing accurate information that can be used for management decisions. The present study focuses on developing a new, fast, and low-cost technique, based on two main steps, for estimating the canopy volume in pistachio trees. The first step is based on adequately planning the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) flight according to light conditions and segmenting the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) imagery using machine learning methods. The second step is based on measuring vegetation planar area and ground shadows using two methodological approaches: a pixel-based classification approach and an OBIA (object-based image analysis) approach. The results show statistically significant linear relationships (p < 0.05) between the ground-truth data and the estimated volume of pistachio tree crowns, with R2 > 0.8 (pixel-based classification) and R2 > 0.9 (OBIA). The proposed methodologies show potential benefits for accurately monitoring the vegetation of the trees. Moreover, the method is compatible with other remote sensing techniques, usually performed at solar noon, so UAV operators can plan a flexible working day. Further research is needed to verify whether these results can be extrapolated to other woody crops.

Comparing OBIA-Generated Labels and Manually Annotated Labels for Semantic Segmentation in Extracting Refugee-Dwelling Footprints

Refugee-dwelling footprints derived from satellite imagery are beneficial for humanitarian operations. Recently, deep learning approaches have attracted much attention in this domain. However, most refugees are hosted by low- and middle-income countries where accurate label data are often unavailable. The Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach has been widely applied to this task for humanitarian operations over the last decade. However, the footprints were usually produced urgently, and thus, include delineation errors. Thus far, no research discusses whether these footprints generated by the OBIA approach (OBIA labels) can replace manually annotated labels (Manual labels) for this task. This research compares the performance of OBIA labels and Manual labels under multiple strategies by semantic segmentation. The results reveal that the OBIA labels can produce IoU values greater than 0.5, which can produce applicable results for humanitarian operations. Most falsely predicted pixels source from the boundary of the built-up structures, the occlusion of trees, and the structures with complicated ontology. In addition, we found that using a small number of Manual labels to fine-tune models initially trained with OBIA labels can outperform models trained with purely Manual labels. These findings show high values of the OBIA labels for deep-learning-based refugee-dwelling extraction tasks for future humanitarian operations.

Salt pond detection on Sentinel 2 Satellite Imagery using Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) Approach

Object-based image analysis (OBIA) is an image classification that is oriented to object patterns that use image objects as the basis for processing, calculates characteristics per object, and extracts land cover information from remotely sensed images. This study aims to detect salt ponds using Sentinel 2 satellite data with an object-based classification model. The center of salt production, which is also an experimental area for the development of industrial salt from the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries on the north coast of the island of Java was selected as the study area. The unit of analysis for this classification is the segmented object of sentinel image. The classification scheme built to detect salt ponds using OBIA consists of level 1, level 2, and level 3. Level 1 is to separate land and water using a Near Infrared canal. Level 2 is to separate land use from object segmentation results in land class at level 1 using NDVI transformation, and level 3 is to separate salt and non-salt ponds from the segmentation results of land use at level 2 using sentinel image transformation algorithm for the distribution of chlorophyll-a. The result shows chlorophyll-a estimation image transformation from sentinel useful to separate salt and non-salt ponds. Many researchers have been reported that chlorophyll-a does not live in the salinity range of salt ponds greater than 50 ppt, meanwhile, in non-salt ponds, chlorophyll-a is used as natural feed for cultivated animals. Furthermore, the research shows a classification scheme of salt ponds and non-salt ponds can be derived from sentinel 2 imagery with OBIA approach

Geospatial-based machine learning techniques for land use and land cover mapping using a high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle image

Bangladesh is primarily an agricultural country where technological advancement in the agricultural sector can ensure the acceleration of economic growth and ensure long-term food security. This research was conducted in the south-western coastal zone of Bangladesh, where rice is the main crop and other crops are also grown. Land use and land cover (LULC) classification using remote sensing techniques such as the use of satellite or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images can forecast the crop yield and can also provide information on weeds, nutrient deficiencies, diseases, etc. to monitor and treat the crops. Depending on the reflectance received by sensors, remotely sensed images store a digital number (DN) for each pixel. Traditionally, these pixel values have been used to separate clusters and classify various objects. However, it frequently generates a lot of discontinuity in a particular land cover, resulting in small objects within a land cover that provide poor image classification output. It is called the salt-and-pepper effect. In order to classify land cover based on texture, shape, and neighbors, Pixel-Based Image Analysis (PBIA) and Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) methods use digital image classification algorithms like Maximum Likelihood (ML), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), k-means clustering algorithm, etc. to smooth this discontinuity. The authors evaluated the accuracy of both the PBIA and OBIA approaches by classifying the land cover of an agricultural field, taking into consideration the development of UAV technology and enhanced image resolution. For classifying multispectral UAV images, we used the KNN machine learning algorithm for object-based supervised image classification and Maximum Likelihood (ML) classification (parametric) for pixel-based supervised image classification. Whereas, for unsupervised classification using pixels, we used the K-means clustering technique. For image analysis, Near-infrared (NIR), Red (R), Green (G), and Blue (B) bands of a high-resolution ground sampling distance (GSD) 0.0125m UAV image was used in this research work. The study found that OBIA was 21% more accurate than PBIA, indicating 94.9% overall accuracy. In terms of Kappa statistics, OBIA was 27% more accurate than PBIA, indicating Kappa statistics accuracy of 93.4%. It indicates that OBIA provides better classification performance when compared to PBIA for the classification of high-resolution UAV images. This study found that by suggesting OBIA for more accurate identification of types of crops and land cover, which will help crop management, agricultural monitoring, and crop yield forecasting be more effective.

Ultra-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and digital surface model (DSM) data-based automatic extraction of urban features using object-based image analysis approach in Gurugram, Haryana

Ultra-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and digital surface model (DSM) data-based automatic extraction of urban features using object-based image analysis approach in Gurugram, Haryana

Mapping Two Decades of New York State Forest Aboveground Biomass Change Using Remote Sensing

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) provides valuable information about the carbon cycle, carbon sink monitoring, and understanding of climate change factors. Remote sensing data coupled with machine learning models have been increasingly used for forest AGB estimation over local and regional extents. Landsat series provide a 50-year data archive, which is a valuable source for historical mapping over large areas. As such, this paper proposed a machine learning-based workflow for historical AGB estimation and its change analysis from 2001 to 2019 for the New York State’s forests using Landsat historical imagery, airborne LiDAR, and forest plot data. As the object-based image analysis (OBIA) is able to incorporate spectral, contextual, and textural features into the regression model, the proposed method utilizes an OBIA approach and a random forest (RF) regression model implemented on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. Results demonstrated that there is a considerable decrease of 983.79 × 106 Mg/ha in the AGB of deciduous forests from 2001 to 2006, followed by an increase of 618.28 × 106 Mg/ha from 2006 to 2011, continued with an increase of 229.12 × 106 Mg/ha of deciduous forests from 2011–2016. Finally, the results demonstrated a slight change in AGB from 2016 to 2019. The transferability of the proposed framework provides a practical solution for monitoring forests in other states or even on a national scale.

UAV-based classification of maritime Antarctic vegetation types using GEOBIA and random forest

Development of vegetation communities in areas of Antarctica without permanent ice cover emphasizes the need for effective remote sensing techniques for proper monitoring of local environmental changes. Detection and mapping of vegetation by image classification remains limited in the Antarctic environment due to the complexity of its surface cover, and the spatial heterogeneity and spectral homogeneity of cryptogamic vegetation. As ultra-high resolution aerial images allow a comprehensive analysis of vegetation, this study aims to identify different types of vegetation cover (i.e., algae, mosses, and lichens) in an ice-free area of Hope Bay, on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Using the geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) approach, remote sensing data sets are tested in the random forest classifier in order to distinguish vegetation classes within vegetated areas. Because species of algae, mosses, and lichens may have similar spectral characteristics, subclasses are established. The results show that when only the mean values of green, red, and NIR bands are considered, the subclasses have low separability. Variations in accuracy and visual changes are identified according to the set of features used in the classification. Accuracy improves when multilayer information is used. A combination of spectral and morphometric products and by-products provides the best result for the detection and delineation of different types of vegetation, with an overall accuracy of 0.966 and a Kappa coefficient of 0.946. The method allowed for the identification of units primarily composed of algae, mosses, and lichens as well as differences in communities. This study demonstrates that ultra-high spatial resolution data can provide the necessary properties for the classification of vegetation in Maritime Antarctica, even in images obtained by sensors with low spectral resolution.

Detection of urban tree canopy from very high resolution imagery using an object based classification

<span>Tree that grows within a town, city and suburban areas, collection of these trees makes the urban forest. These urban forest and urban trees have impact on urban water, pollution and heat. Nowadays we are experiencing drastic climatic changes because of cutting of trees for our growth and increasing population which leads to expansion of roads, towers, and airports. Individual tree crown detection is necessary to map the forest along with feasible planning for urban areas. In this study, using WorldView-2imagery, trees in specific area are detected with object-based image analysis (OBAI) approach. Therefore with improvement in spatial and spectral resolution of an image, extracted from WorldView-2 carried out urban features with better accuracy. The aim of this research is to illustrate how object-based method can be applied to the available data to accurately find out vegetation, which can be further sub-classified to obtain area under tree canopy. The result thus obtained gives area under tree canopy with an accuracy of 92.43 % and a Kappa coefficient of 0.80.</span>

Large-Scale Debris Cover Glacier Mapping Using Multisource Object-Based Image Analysis Approach

Large-scale debris cover glacier mapping can be efficiently conducted from high spatial resolution (HSR) remote sensing imagery using object-based image analysis (OBIA), which works on a group of pixels. This paper presents the spectral and spatial capabilities of OBIA to classify multiple glacier cover classes using a multisource approach by integrating multispectral, thermal, and slope information into one workflow. The novel contributions of this study are effective mapping of small yet important geomorphological features, classification of shadow regions without manual corrections, discrimination of snow/ice, ice-mixed debris, and supraglacial debris without using shortwave infrared bands, and an adaptation of an area-weighted error matrix specifically built for assessing OBIA’s accuracy. The large-scale glacier cover map is produced with a high overall accuracy of ≈94% (area-weighted error matrix). The proposed OBIA approach also proved to be effective in mapping minor geomorphological features such as small glacial lakes, exposed ice faces, debris cones, rills, and crevasses with individual class accuracies in the range of 96.9–100%. We confirm the portability of our proposed approach by comparing the results with reference glacier inventories and applying it to different sensor data and study areas.

CREATION OF SOIL PERMEABILITY MAPS TROUGH OBIA CLASSIFICATION OF VERY HIGH-RESOLUTION SATELLITE IMAGES

Abstract. In the last few months, we have been working on images acquired by the WorldView3 satellite over the city of Pavia with the final intent to create a soil permeability map. These maps can be particularly useful in various fields, such as water management and public green, for evaluate the correlation between overbuilt areas and pollution, the influence of vegetation on the temperature in within the different areas of the city, for the planning and monitoring of a sustainable transition of cities. To create such maps, it is essential to be able to identify various objects lying in the images, in our case we have done a classification of the image using the software Trimble eCognition™, applying Object-based Image Analysis (OBIA) approach and various classification methods, by applying fuzzy logic and supervised classification. The objects generated through various segmentations have been classified into 7 classes, water, fields, cultivated fields / low vegetation, high vegetation, roads, red roofs, and white roofs. And from the comparison with the manually defined ground truth, an overall accuracy degree of 80% was achieved. Furthermore, by applying various aggregation strategies, by combining the cultivated fields / low vegetation and high vegetation classes, we achieved a better overall accuracy of 91%.

PLASTIC COVER GREENHOUSES REFLECTANCE SPECTRA FROM DIFFERENT OPTICAL SATELLITE IMAGERY

Abstract. Mapping the distribution of plastic covered greenhouses (PCG) is essential for any attempts to manage these complex areas of intensive agriculture. It is therefore important to understand how the spectrum of different PCG varies in order to establish its unique absorption features and how these can be utilised for mapping PCG from remote sensing imagery. This paper presents an analysis of the surface reflectance values of satellite image spectra for 50 PCG. The reflectance of these PCG, located in Almería (Spain), was studied in two seasons of the year (summer and winter). All single bands of WorldView-3 (WV3), Sentinel-2 MSI (S2 L2A) and Landsat 8 OLI (L8 L2), together with Normalized Difference Plastic Index (NDPI) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), were generated through an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach for each PCG and season. The results showed the variability of absorption features and overall shape of the spectra for all PCG. The main differences in reflectance were attributed to the crops and the specific characteristics of their local management. A relationship between brightness and whitewashing (greenhouse roof painted with lime to provide shade and reduce the temperature inside the greenhouse, especially in summer) was found, showing the ability of whitewashing to temporally mask the spectral signature of the plastic film.

On the Detection of Snow Cover Changes over the Australian Snowy Mountains Using a Dynamic OBIA Approach

This study detected the spatial changes in Snow Cover Area (SCA) over the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. We applied a combination of Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) algorithms by segmentation, classification, and thresholding rules to extract the snow, water, vegetation, and non-vegetation land covers. For validation, the Maximum Snow Depths (MSDs) were collected at three local snow observation sites (namely Three Mile Dam, Spencer Creek, and Deep Creek) from 1984 to 2020. Multiple Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imageries extracted daily MSDs. The process was followed by applying an Estimation Scale Parameter (ESP) tool to build the local variance (LV) of object heterogeneity for each satellite scene. By matching the required segmentation parameters, the optimal separation step of the image objects was weighted for each of the image bands and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM). In the classification stage, a few land cover classes were initially assigned, and three different indices—Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI), Surface Water Index (SWI), and a Normalized Differential Snow Index (NDSI)—were created. These indices were used to adjust a few classification thresholds and ruleset functions. The resulting MSDs in all snow observation sites proves noticeable reduction trends during the study period. The SCA classified maps, with an overall accuracy of nearly 0.96, reveal non-significant trends, although with considerable fluctuations over the past 37 years. The variations concentrate in the north and south-east directions, to some extent with a similar pattern each year. Although the long-term changes in SCA are not significant, since 2006, the pattern of maximum values has decreased, with fewer fluctuations in wet and dry episodes. A preliminary analysis of climate drivers’ influences on MSD and SCA variability has also been performed. A dynamic indexing OBIA indicated that continuous processing of satellite images is an effective method of obtaining accurate spatial–temporal SCA information, which is critical for managing water resources and other geo-environmental investigations.

MULTIRESOLUTION SEGMENTATION FOR EXTRACTING PLASTIC GREENHOUSES FROM DEIMOS-2 IMAGERY

Abstract. Accurate greenhouse mapping can support environment monitoring and resource management. In an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach focused on plastic covered greenhouses (PCG) classification, the segmentation is a crucial step for the goodness of the final results. Multiresolution segmentation (MRS) is one of the most used algorithms in OBIA approaches, being greatly enabled by the advent of the commercial software eCognition. Therefore, in addition to the segmentation algorithm used, it is very important to count on tools to assess the quality of segmentation results from digital images in order to obtain the most similar segments to the real PCG objects. In this work, several factors affecting MRS such as the type of input image and the best MRS parameters (i.e., scale, compactness and shape), have been analysed. In this regard, more than 2800 segmentations focused on PCG land cover were conducted from four pre-processed Deimos-2 very high-resolution (VHR) satellite orthoimages taken in the Southeast of Spain (Almería). Specifically, one multispectral and one pansharpened Deimos-2 orthoimages, both with and without atmospheric correction were tested in this work. The free access AssesSeg command line tool, based on a modified version of the supervised discrepancy measure named Euclidean Distance 2 (ED2), was used to determine the best MRS parameters for all the VHR satellite images. According to both the supervised discrepancy measure ED2 and visual perception, the best segmentation on PCG was obtained over the atmospherically corrected pansharpened Deimos-2 orthoimage, achieving very good results.

Vineyard classification using OBIA on UAV-based RGB and multispectral data: A case study in different wine regions

Vineyard classification is an important process within viticulture-related decision-support systems. Indeed, it improves grapevine vegetation detection, enabling both the assessment of vineyard vegetative properties and the optimization of in-field management tasks. Aerial data acquired by sensors coupled to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may be used to achieve it. Flight campaigns were conducted to acquire both RGB and multispectral data from three vineyards located in Portugal and in Italy. Red, green, blue and near infrared orthorectified mosaics resulted from the photogrammetric processing of the acquired data. They were then used to calculate RGB and multispectral vegetation indices, as well as a crop surface model (CSM). Three different supervised machine learning (ML) approaches—support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN)—were trained to classify elements present within each vineyard into one of four classes: grapevine, shadow, soil and other vegetation. The trained models were then used to classify vineyards objects, generated from an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach, into the four classes. Classification outcomes were compared with an automatic point-cloud classification approach and threshold-based approaches. Results shown that ANN provided a better overall classification performance, regardless of the type of features used. Features based on RGB data showed better performance than the ones based only on multispectral data. However, a higher performance was achieved when using features from both sensors. The methods presented in this study that resort to data acquired from different sensors are suitable to be used in the vineyard classification process. Furthermore, they also may be applied in other land use classification scenarios.

The Use of C-Band and X-Band SAR with Machine Learning for Detecting Small-Scale Mining

Illicit small-scale mining occurs in many tropical regions and is both environmentally and socially hazardous. The aim of this study was to determine whether the classification of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery could detect and map small-scale mining in Ghana by analyzing multi-temporal filtering applied to three SAR datasets and testing five machine-learning classifiers. Using an object-based image analysis approach, we were successful in classifying water bodies associated with small-scale mining. The multi-temporally filtered Sentinel-1 dataset was the most reliable, with kappa coefficients at 0.65 and 0.82 for the multi-class classification scheme and binary-water classification scheme, respectively. The single-date Sentinel-1 dataset has the highest overall accuracy, at 90.93% for the binary water classification scheme. The KompSAT-5 dataset achieved the lowest accuracy at an overall accuracy of 80.61% and a kappa coefficient of 0.61 for a binary-water classification scheme. The experimental results demonstrated that it is possible to classify water as a proxy to identify illegal mining activities and that SAR is a potentially accurate and reliable solution for the detection of SSM in tropical regions such as Ghana. Therefore, using SAR can assist local governments in regulating small-scale mining activities by providing specific spatial information on the whereabouts of small-scale mining locations.

Desert landform detection and mapping using a semi-automated object-based image analysis approach

Traditional landform modeling approaches are labor-intensive and time-consuming. We proposed and developed a semi-automated object-based image analysis (OBIA) rule set approach for desert landforms detection and mapping. Sentinel-2 image and digital elevation model (DEM) were acquired for the study area. The multi-resolution segmentation algorithm was employed on the datasets to select relevant features to define appropriate segmentation scales for all landform categories. Object-based rule sets were then employed using spatial (DEM and its derivatives, e.g., slope, aspect, and hillshade) and spectral information for semi-automated classification of the desert landforms. Desert landforms are detected and classified into four classes: saline dome, barchan, playa, and dune. The Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation (FSE) technique was applied in concert with the error matrix to validate the accuracy of the classification results based on field data, Google Earth, and geological maps. Our findings demonstrated the highest confidence of overall accuracy (OA) 96.21%, 92.58%, 95.99%, and 95.05% respectively, for the saline dome, barchan, playa, and dune. Results showed the strong potential of the rule-based OBIA remote sensing approach for desert landform detection and delineation. Results further demonstrated the efficiency of spatial and spectral features for desert landforms detection and delineation.

Adaptation to saline intrusion for agriculture farming transformation in the coastal Ben Tre province, Vietnam

This study aimed to evaluate the adaptive capacity (AC) of agriculture farming transformation to improve for the adaptability by saline intrusion of those culture systems in the coastal Ben Tre province. The primary data was collected by questionnaires in three coastal districts of Ba Tri, Thanh Phu and Binh Dai with 178 households to distribute on agriculture land use transformations. An Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) and multi-temporal image analysis approach was developed to detect how LULC changes during 2010-2020 in the coastal Ben Tre province using Landsat TM and OLI data. The MODIS (MOD09 8-day reflectance) data was processed into monthly NDVI maps with the Time Series Product Tool software package and then used to classify regionally common rice crops LULC types using unsupervised classification by ISODATA algorithm. Based on primary data collection, evaluating adaptation measures was assessed the compilation of modification options based on a detailed description and criteria including human, society, infrastructure and natural conditions by standardized a weight ranges of adaptive indicators in the agriculture land use changes. The results detected five agriculture land use transformation including rice-shrimp crop rotation to aquaculture, single rice crop to aquaculture, double rice crop to perennial plant/orchards, double rice crop to rice-shrimp crop rotation, and triple rice crop to double rice crop. The adaptability of these transformations conducted the shrimp-rice crop rotation to aquaculture in Binh Dai of strongly high adaptability. Next is followed by double rice crops to orchards and double rice crops to rice-shrimp crop rotation with high adaptability while the rice-shrimp crop rotation to aquaculture is only moderate in Thanh Phu. The low adaptability levels were identified on single rice crop to aquaculture and triple rice crop to double rice crop transformations due to tolerant condition of saltwater for rice crop cultivation. The studies results can further contribute to support adaptation planning in these sectors by using, developing and streamlining this framework to additional and different socio-ecological contexts.

Unsupervised Multimodal Change Detection Based on Structural Relationship Graph Representation Learning

Unsupervised multimodal change detection is a practical and challenging topic that can play an important role in time-sensitive emergency applications. To address the challenge that multimodal remote sensing images cannot be directly compared due to their modal heterogeneity, we take advantage of two types of modality-independent structural relationships in multimodal images. In particular, we present a structural relationship graph representation learning framework for measuring the similarity of the two structural relationships. Firstly, structural graphs are generated from preprocessed multimodal image pairs by means of an object-based image analysis approach. Then, a structural relationship graph convolutional autoencoder (SR-GCAE) is proposed to learn robust and representative features from graphs. Two loss functions aiming at reconstructing vertex information and edge information are presented to make the learned representations applicable for structural relationship similarity measurement. Subsequently, the similarity levels of two structural relationships are calculated from learned graph representations and two difference images are generated based on the similarity levels. After obtaining the difference images, an adaptive fusion strategy is presented to fuse the two difference images. Finally, a morphological filtering-based postprocessing approach is employed to refine the detection results. Experimental results on five datasets with different modal combinations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An assessment of forest loss and its drivers in protected areas on the Copperbelt province of Zambia: 1972–2016

In sub-Saharan Africa, protected areas provide a platform for conserving biodiversity. However, these areas are facing massive pressure due to deforestation, and information on forest dynamics and factors driving the changes in protected areas is generally lacking. This study has two objectives: (1) to assess forest cover changes that have occurred between 1972 and 2016 in Copperbelt Province’s protected areas, and (2) understand the drivers of forest cover changes. The study used thematic land cover maps for six selected years, which were classified using an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach. We also applied a Classification Tree (CT) approach to assess the drivers of forest cover changes using R statistical software. The findings showed that forest cover in protected areas has been characterised by massive deforestation due to various factors. Between 1972 and 2016, primary and secondary forests showed a decrease of 2,226.43 km2 (11.06%) and an increase of 1,082.93 km2 (4.05%), respectively. The major factors driving forest changes include the levels of precipitation, human population density, elevation, distance from roads, towns and rivers. This study presents consistent information for long-term forest monitoring in protected areas, and informs decision-makers on the levels of deforestation and their drivers for effective forest management.

The Use of Object-Based Image Analysis for Monitoring 2021 Marine Mucilage Bloom in the Sea of Marmara

Global warming threatens ecosystems through rising temperatures, increasing sea levels, drought, and extreme weather conditions. The natural balance of seas and oceans is also at stake with recent outbreaks of mucilage events all over the world. The mucilage phenomenon, which has been frequently observed in the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, has taken place the second time in the Sea of Marmara in Spring 2021. The Sea of Marmara dividing the Asian and European parts of Turkey is an important inland sea with heavy maritime traffic, hosting many industrial zones and surrounded by highly populated cities. This study aims to determine the mucilage formations that were observed intensely all around the Sea of Marmara, focusing on the coasts of Istanbul, Kocaeli, Yalova, and Bursa through classifying Sentinel-2A images dated 19 and 24 May 2021, when the peak period of mucilage bloom, using a new paradigm of object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach. To create representative and homogenous image objects, multi-resolution segmentation was applied, and its result was inputted into a classification process using Random Forest (RF) classifier to generate thematic maps. The produced results were compared with pixel-based classification and a high correlation was estimated. Object-based classification was found effective for the determination of mucilage-covered areas (> 90% overall accuracy) for both considered dates. More specifically, areas covered with mucilage aggregates were computed as 56.15 km² and 67.51 km² for 19 May and 24 May 2021, respectively, indicating rapid growth in only 5-day period. The resulting thematic maps revealed that mucilage was heavily distributed in the gulfs of Gemlik and Izmit and along the coasts of Darica, Tuzla and Pendik.